This invention relates to a system for launching a decoy from an aircraft for defensive purposes. The invention is particularly concerned with a decoy system for diverting from an aircraft a missile guided by radar and/or infrared means.
Prior inventors have dealt, in various ways, with the problem of diverting radar-guided missiles from an aircraft. Airborne chaff dispenser have been developed for this purpose, and it has also been proposed, as in U.S. Pat. No. 2,898,588, to tow a highly radar-reflective target behind an aircraft to confuse enemy radar. Towed flares have been employed as well, to mislead infrared seeking missiles.